Young reported to camp about 30 pounds lighter than he was last year. After Gardy chided him about it, he said he lost the weight because starting pitcher Carl Pavano was back on the team, so he’d need to be able to chase down those warning-track fly balls.

Gardy approved of the joke. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind seeing Young come out of his shell this year, both in the clubhouse and on the field.

I was kind of confused about the line that said fans should expect Gardy to eventually bench Hardy, but if you look at the comments, the writer explains he was just making a joke because unlike Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett (the Twins version of Bartlett), Hardy’s value isn’t 90 percent dependent on his defense.

I guess it’s too early in the morning for jokes like that for me today.